[3] She was educated at the city's King Edward VI High School for Girls from 1931 to 1936.

[2][4] She joined the BBC in Birmingham as a secretary in 1938 before working as a Red Cross nurse, treating wounded servicemen at an emergency hospital in Birmingham for several months in 1940, during World War II.

[6][7] After meeting two railway-enthusiast film makers, she commissioned them to work on Railway Roundabout, a television series, episodes of which she also produced, and which ran from 1958 to 1962.

[10][11] In 1965, after she made a successful series of programmes for O-level students, she was transferred to the BBC's education department, in London.

[12] In her leisure time, she was a singer and linguist, and translated song lyrics from French and German, some of which were broadcast.